Eberron: Shadows of Breland (Fantasy Noir)

Game Master Elton

What are people's thoughts on mythic tiers, and/or whether they would fit in this game?
Also,

Xov wrote:

Leveling up:

1. I guess I can continue keeping track of xp...
how much did we get from
a)the four zombies?
b)the explosive runes/alarm trap (if any)?
c)the ogre?

That's assuming you want to keep using xp at all...

i could go either way on them. they certainly fit with the pulp-action feel of eberron, but if advancement came down to a choice of either actual levels or mythic tiers, i would choose levels.

Xov wrote:

Leveling up:

1. I guess I can continue keeping track of xp...
how much did we get from
a)the four zombies?
b)the explosive runes/alarm trap (if any)?
c)the ogre?

That's assuming you want to keep using xp at all...

a. 800 xp, so divide that amongst you.

b. 250 XP.

c. Psionic Ogres are worth 800 XP

Essar would know about it, remember there is one thing every Karnn is obsessed with in one way or another and that is war... Remember that Dakhanni was a military empire and there ruins still remain in Galifar indeed our characters are sitting on top of those ruins...

Moving this over here...it seems sorta weird that someone with 0 ranks in Knowledge (dungeoneering) and 0 ranks in Knowledge (history). Time to wait for Elton's ruling, then:)

unfortunately that is correct now that I examine the character sheet...It would seem that now is the time for the crossbow bolt of doom laced with dragon slaying poison to strike Essar...

It would also seem time to retire from the game, this will not affect the game I am gming for some of you.

It would also seem time to retire from the game, this will not affect the game I am gming for some of you.

Whoah! Why?!?

Essar Kalvin wrote:

It would also seem time to retire from the game, this will not affect the game I am gming for some of you.

Whoah! Why?!?

seconded.

yes, who will we bash now?!?! WHO, I ASK YOU!?!?

if you insist...I'll keep Essar running until the end of the current mission at least so you don't die due to lack of healing...

why would you drop out, this is the only PbP I have been in that has actually lasted a while without player issues?

the reason is complex... Although it may be that I am simply not the "cleric" type. I am far more of a player that favors and leans heavily towards the wizard, sorcerer and alchemist classes. I tried the cleric for the sake of variety and I am not just the type to favor it...the flavor simply isn't to my taste.

ah, so thinking about trying a character swap? or heading towards a true necromancer or mystic theurge?

Lets just put it this way if Essar pops the coffin I would role up a Vitalist to do the healing and group support... As the Vitalist feels to me at least to be the "smart" approach to healing, a question does hit my brain however why did paizo never pick up on psionics to begin with? As while dreamscarred has done an excellent job with psionics it still bears the stigma of being third party and as a consequence many a gm simply gives forth a great "ack!" at the sight of it...

i can definitely agree with that.

i am playing a vitalist in another game. i feel like even with 20 WIS i dont have enough PP, but i do have a half-giant barbarian in my party haha

Eh, DSP has done a better job with psinoics than Paizo ever would.

Anyways, I'd be cool with a vitalist in the party:)
...and, this adventure will probably have some good opportunities for a dramatic exit of Essar (he could simply be dismissed by the citadel afterwards, or quit...or they could contact us and suggest that it would be okay if he died in the process...or just Xov could get a message that it was okay if Essar died in the process)
and entrance of a new PC vitalist, possibly someone who was being held captive by cultists/mindflayers/whoever is really behind this, or just as reenforcements sent by the citadel.

Actually, if/when you switch out Essar for another character, I could see him becoming an antagonist later in the campaign...

yeah that /is/ an interesting possibility. bwahahaa

Lets just put it this way if Essar pops the coffin I would role up a Vitalist to do the healing and group support... As the Vitalist feels to me at least to be the "smart" approach to healing, a question does hit my brain however why did paizo never pick up on psionics to begin with? As while dreamscarred has done an excellent job with psionics it still bears the stigma of being third party and as a consequence many a gm simply gives forth a great "ack!" at the sight of it...

I don't give a great "ACK!" at the sight of Dreamscarred's work. Or else I wouldn't have allowed Bowman's soulknife to begin with.

I think the reason that Paizo didn't pick up on psionics is simplicity itself. If you noticed, only a few people wrote for psionics during their time at Wizards, and none of these include the people who run Paizo. Bruce, my friend Keith, and two others are definitely working in Psionics while they were there.

Paizo is going for a different approach on psionics. But mainly, if you ask most of the people who talk about it you will get many different answers. Steve Russell often complains about adding science fiction into Fantasy when you mix psionics with magic, and that's one possible answer. Others believe that it's still overpowered -- hence why Paizo is taking their different approach (I think they are going to use a Vancian fire and forget system, but I'm not privy with what they are planning or have planned).

yep. Huge fan of DSP's take on psionics, and i did NOT like 3.5 psionics. i was a hater, had a guy in my group abuse the system and get it outlawed by our DM, i didnt find out until much later that he had been doing things wrong.

that said, i had the opportunity to go back and play a 3.5 psionic character, but the classes back then just dont excite me like DSP's take on em.

but i DO miss the thri-kreen as a race.

To clarify I meant other GM's of my acquaintance not you yourself oh puissant being... While on the subject of 3.5 do any of you remember the Binder from the Tome of Magic?

Yes, it was updated by Radiance House as the occultist .

Nice to see that the Binder got an entire book dedicated to them as they rightfully deserved from the beginning...

Yep! There's also an update to the warlock called the Invoker (it isn't OGL, so you have to purchase it.)

Oh, and of course Dreamscarred Press is making an update to ToB.

Yeah I anxiously await Path of War

So...sounds like everyone's cool with Viluki making a vitalist next?:)

While I will be sad to see Essar disappear as a PC (he may not get along well with his associates but he is a great character), if it keeps Viluki in the game I am all for it.

I agree with Browman

Don't plan to deliberately kill off Essar myself but if he gets killed I'll definitely go for a Vitalist or one of those Occult classes or archetypes that Radiance House has done (I have fond memories of playing the old binder) although I do understand if the GM doesn't want to introduce a system that is completely new to him (unless he himself has given the binder a shot)...

Nope.

I have a work-related formal dinner event to attend tomorrow night, coupled with a project that I have been working on whose culmination is tomorrow morning. As such, my posts may be sparing for the next 48 hours. "Bot" me as needed, although I don't anticipate that being necessary.

So...what's going all, y'all (other than Tenro)?

lurking in wait...

Just been waiting on the next move...

i had a DM one time had our forgotten realms characters bitten by werewolves and the ones in the party that didnt succumb got killed by those that did. the party ranger was first since his player insisted on him sleeping out in the woods even though the rest of the party stayed at a tavern.

we then sorta fast-forwarded to level 6, all the characters were imprisoned by a group that was curing werewolves.

I missed this earlier...

i could go either way on them. they certainly fit with the pulp-action feel of eberron, but if advancement came down to a choice of either actual levels or mythic tiers, i would choose levels.

Mythic tiers don't (by default) directly affect xp or level advancement--the two are completely independent. However, mythic tiers do allow you to fight tougher monsters at a lower character level, so adding mythic tiers has a tendency to cause the PCs to level up faster, as they end up facing monsters that give more xp, but don't need any more xp to level.

i had a DM one time had our forgotten realms characters bitten by werewolves and the ones in the party that didnt succumb got killed by those that did. the party ranger was first since his player insisted on him sleeping out in the woods even though the rest of the party stayed at a tavern.

we then sorta fast-forwarded to level 6, all the characters were imprisoned by a group that was curing werewolves.

Fun:)

If Essar becomes a werewolf I wonder how Othan will react...Othan seems the most likely to empathize with lycanthropy, yet also the one who has the greatest distaste for Essar.

On an unrelated note, here is a new possibility for how Essar could be replaced by a vitalist/occultist:

On a related note to the question about how Othan will react to another player being bitten, would a shifter who has been bitten be somewhere in between a natural and afflicted lycanthrope if they got bitten? Since they already have and understand a form of shifting.

Second question, aren't lycanthropes almost extinct on Ebberon?

on the question about Othan, he will probably try to help anyone who is bitten come to terms with how to deal with the illness, he will also be an asset at identifying what is happening to them as he understands lycanthropes better than most.

The key word is "almost."

Lycanthropes still exist, after all. There are warforged running around with skins covered in Alchemical Silver. If they were extinct, then there would be no reason for them to have that.

I would like to think that they become something like a WoW Worgen. But that's too far fetched. After all, the WoW Worgen came into being from a misunderstanding on how to control the Druids of the Pack, and also a misuse of both the tooth of Goldrin and the Staff of Elune.

According to WotC, though, they'd become a full fledged werewolf. :)

In earlier editions, anyone bitten by a werewolf who failed to save became a full lycanthrope.
3.5 changed it so that only 'natural' lycanthropes can spread their condition, and anyone else who is bitten becomes an 'afflicted' lycanthrope who can't pass it on to other people...
IIRC, in Eberron werewolves use to be able to spread like in 2e, but the Silver Flame's purge weakened them so that they can no longer spread exponentially. I think the reason was because Baker started writing the history of Eberron before the 3.5 update, and wanted the Purge to be at least somewhat justified (in that they were staving off a threat of exponentially spreading lycanthropy), but when the 3.0->3.5 update happened WotC wanted it to conform to the 3.5 rules.

In other news, if we can't finish this quickly, then Essar might not be curable until the full moon...[spoiler=musings about having a werewolf in the party
and only then by someone with 4th level or higher magic. So at the very least he would need to separate from the group to recover, and that may be contingent on someone in the Citadel/some other group deciding he is valuable enough to heal. Oooh, maybe some villainous organization (the Dreaming Dark?!? Aurum? Dark Flame?) will offer him a cure if he joins them and he shows up later as an antagonist...[/spoiler]
...okay, now is about the time I should probably stop listening to the GMing-part of my mind that is always coming up with adventure ideas, even when I am not GMing.

Well, if Baker was writing it back in 2e days, then that would be awesome. It would explain a lot more.

According to Pathfinder rules, Essar won't be curable in three 3 days, not until the next full moon. In this case, it would be Barakas' full. Dang, I haven't been keeping track of time. I would say that it's been a week and a half since you were released.

You were released on Eyre 2, 998 YK. It is now Eyre 10, 998 YK. And Barakas is waxing (20% full). You have one week to get Essar cured with a remove curse spell.

Well, if Baker was writing it back in 2e days, then that would be awesome. It would explain a lot more.

I don't know if he was writing it in 2e, but he said in a blog post he was writing it during 3.0, and that that affected the nature of the Purge:

Eberron was originally designed for D&D 3E, but by the time it was released D&D was up to 3.5. The changes might seem fairly minor, but they can still have an impact. Notably, in 3E, any lycanthrope can spread the curse; if you’re bitten by a werewolf and turned, you can bite me and turn me. This was the impetus for the Lycanthropic Purge: lycanthropy is a dangerous contagious curse that could easily spread out of control if not contained. But 3.5 changed this so that only natural-born lycanthropes could spread the curse; a true werewolf could bite you and turn you, but you couldn’t pass it to me. This completely changes the exponential threat potential and makes the Purge seem like overkill. Hence we shifted the story to say that back in the time of the Purge, the curse was stronger and all ‘thropes were infectious; the Purge weakened it, so it’s no longer the threat it once was.

source.

EDIT: Also, how much xp was the bugbear mage worth?

Anyways, 1 week? Sounds doable...although it might distract us from helping Danir get back into his house (which we also got a time limit on)...

He's worth about 800 XP.

not really sure what my part in the plan is now that the enemy is here. i believe i was just supposed to be present and not conspicuous, while Xov does all the talking.

Hmm, I'm seeing some family resemblances as far as personalities go...

Othan doesn't do non-lethal so well.

it is amazing how posts sneak in while you are making an important post as a GM.

I have a sudden urge to fly around the room and turn the 50 ft coil of rope Danir gave Xov into a zombie-tripwire...

that would be fun I can just envision it... Xov the zombieboy.

Othan appreciates Xov's repeated use of enlarge person on him. It makes him bigger, scarier and smashier. All of which othan approves of.

I'll be pretty busy for the next few days. Just a heads up.

okay